ultimately force its demise.
   Beginning in 1787, there
was a general outmigration
from the town of Shelburne,
and in 1791, approximately
900 freed black Loyalists
followed suit, abandoning the
suburb of Birchtown for
Sierra Leone. So great was
this exodus that by 1818 it

was reported that Shelburne
had no more than 300 souls.
   All of the above aside,
the Loyalist town of
Shelburne survived, and over
the course of the following
decades such proven
industries as fishing,
lumbering, sawmilling and
shipbuilding fostered growth

and eased the community's
passage into the 20th
century.